Court: Flipping the bird to cop is free speech

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Court: Flipping the bird to cop is free speech

By Fred Barbash March 13 at 7:15 PM

Woman gets stopped for speeding. Cop shows mercy and gives her a ticket for a non-moving violation. As police officer pulls away, however, woman gives him the finger, or as a U.S. District Court puts it, “flips him the bird.”

Cop takes offense, switches on lights and siren and stops her again, ploughing into her car in the process and then, on top of that, changing the original ticket to a moving violation.

-snip-

Judge Jeffrey Sutton, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel Wednesday, disagreed.

While suggesting the woman was a bit “ungrateful,” the second stop was not reasonable, and the officer should have known it, Sutton said.

To justify the second stop, he wrote affirming the district court, Minard needed “probable cause that she had committed” a violation.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/court-flipping-the-bird-to-cop-is-free-speech/2019/03/13/cf9c56d2-45d0-11e9-aaf8-4512a6fe3439_story.html

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Court Opinion: 18-2196 Debra Cruise-Gulyas v. Matthew Minard - Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit

[Soxfan58]

1. Yes

But unfortunately if your black the cop can shoot you and get away with it.

[MichMan]

2. So it should also be OK to do it to a judge in a courtroom

and not be cited for contempt